Spread the Word, Not the News...
Posted by Eddie Yu on Thu, Jun 25, 2009
King of Pop is gone. And everybody with web access learned of the news within hours of him passing. This is the world we live in these days. The fact that Perez Hilton and TMZ is cited by the NY Times, LA Times, Reuters & the Associate Press makes clear confirmation that news literally spreads instantly, before the traditional providers of news can even get to it. The age of the printed newspaper has officially ended (Newspaper has been dying a slow death over the past several years)
How did YOU find out about it? Twitter? Facebook? RSS? Actually you were probably finishing up an email to a client, or updating a spreadsheet when that quick little two second notification from your Twitter App. popped up a message on your desktop, “The King is Dead.” That’s how I heard. Confirmation came on Facebook where half the people I know reposted the original TMZ article.
What’s my point? How does it relate to your content marketing efforts? Well... news isn’t the only thing that spreads like wildfire on the web. Any content that answers a question, or offers a helpful tidbit, spreads the same way. Maybe not as universally consumed like Michael Jackson passing away, R.I.P., but if there’s a market for it, it will be found. And it will be found rather quickly. Whether it’s a pop icon passing or a new wheelchair model launch, the word will spread. It all starts whenever someone jots down a few words in html text on a website connected to the online information universe. Maybe that someone should be you.